Different Choices Lead to Different Outcomes

In Steve Chapman's TownHall.com column today, some interesting observations about the "pay gap" between men and women in the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Educational Foundation report:

As the report acknowledges, women with college degrees tend to go into fields like education, psychology and the humanities, which typically pay less than the sectors preferred by men, such as engineering, math and business. They are also more likely than men to work for nonprofit groups and local governments, which do not offer salaries that Alex Rodriguez would envy.

As they get older, many women elect to work less so they can spend time with their children. A decade after graduation, 39 percent of women are out of the work force or working part time -- compared with only 3 percent of men. When these mothers return to full-time jobs, they naturally earn less than they would have if they had never left.

Even before they have kids, men and women often do different things that may affect earnings. A year out of college, notes AAUW, women in full-time jobs work an average of 42 hours a week, compared to 45 for men. Men are also far more likely to work more than 50 hours a week.

While the column acknowledges that some sex discrimination may occur, another interesting tidbit as Chapman quotes Baruch College economist and former director of the CBO June O'Neill:

"For men and women who never marry and never have children, there is no earnings gap,"